Hannah Segar's late goal holds up as Eagles beat Stillwater in thrilling third place game

On Wednesday night when Apple Valley lost to Eden Prairie in the state tournament semifinals, everything that could possibly go wrong for Hannah Segar went wrong.

She scored only once (she averages nearly 3.75 per game), her team lost, and to top off the terrible sundae with an unfortunate cherry, her cleats busted at the seams and fell apart.

Thursday was a brand new day and a brand new pair of shoes for Segar and the Eagles who bounced back to topple Stillwater 9-8 on Thursday, June 7, at Chanhassen High School in Chanhassen.

Sporting kicks fresh out of the box, Segar scored five goals including the game winner with just under two minutes to play.

“Yup, so I played with new shoes and now I have blisters,” Segar said with a smile and a laugh after the game. Blisters aside, she did admit that the cleats were clearly luckier than her previous set.

After getting trounced 11-2 to Eden Prairie, finding the energy and poise to grab the third place hardware can be a tall task.

“It’s really tough I mean Eden Prairie played awesome yesterday,” Apple Valley head coach Alexandra Ross said. “Even though they were the number one team going into the tournament the girls wanted to perform well, so today it wasn’t too hard to get them motivated because they didn’t feel they played their best and they wanted to show the Minnesota lacrosse community that they can play lacrosse and that we did deserve to come to the tournament.”

“It’s pretty hard because you’re heads are down but you still want it just as much as you want the first place,” Segar added.

With just two minutes left and a tie game, a third place banner and a quality silver lining was in jeopardy for the Eagles, who let a large lead slip away and were tied with Stillwater.

Segar, a Ms. Lacrosse finalist, showed up just in time to put Apple Valley up for good.

“It means everything because we’ve always wanted to go to state. Yeah we didn’t get first but this is the furthest that we’ve ever gotten in Apple Valley history,” Segar said. “It’s a really good end, I’m glad that we ended on a win. That’s what I wanted and that’s what I got.”

-- Walker Orenstein, MN Lax Hub staff

Statistics, Summary

Game Recap

Apple Valley Senior Hannah Segar scored with 1 minute, 54 seconds left and Stillwater’s Dan Almquist had a shot blocked just before the final horn sounded as the Eagles, making their first state girls lacrosse tournament appearance, beat the Ponies 9-8 in a thrilling third-place game on Thursday, June 7, at Chanhassen High School.

Segar, one of seven Ms. Lacrosse finalists, scored five goals and added an assist a day after being limited to a single goal and an assist in a semifinal loss to Eden Prairie.

No. 4 seed Apple Valley (14-5) led 7-3 at halftime and appeared to be cruising to the victory when No. 3-seed and No. 5-ranked Stillwater (14-4) scored the first four goals – and six of the first seven – in the second half to tie the score at 8 with 3:21 remaining.

Segar scored the winner after using her blistering speed to slice through the middle of the Stillwater defense.

Almquist, Stillwater’s leading scorer, had a chance to tie it ant the end when she ran all the way from midfield before unloading a shot from 10 yards out. The shot was blocked by an Eagles defender, and the horn sounded a couple of seconds later.

Katherine Sheely scored three goals and Emma Wiessner and Almquist each had two for the Ponies.

1.Hannah Segar, Apple Valley
After having a tough time against Eden Prairie in the semifinals, the senior midfielder carved up Stillwater for five goals and an assist to finish with six points. She came through in the clutch too with the game winning goal.

2.Katherine Sheely, Stillwater
Sheely led the Ponies with three goals and scored a key goal to tie the game with less than four minutes to play in the game. After being shutout in Stillwater’s last game, bouncing back with a hat trick was a great effort for the sophomore defender.

3.Liz Hermes, Apple Valley
Hermes helped out Segar with some great passing and provided a spark for the Eagles. With her and Segar working together, she finished was very effective and finished with a goal and two assists.